The Aged Youth
by Mommy Bear
Summary: The old white haired man stood looking at the grave of his Sensei. He still wore his traditional bowl hair cut.


I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. I just enjoy playing with it.

Authors notes: The first two sentences of this short story have been sitting in my computer for a couple of months – then one day – the rest of it just came to me. So, like all wanna be writers, I dropped what I was doing and entered it into that magical machine. And this is the results. I do hope you enjoy.

The Aged Youth

The old white haired man stood looking at the grave of his Sensei. He still wore his traditional bowl hair cut. His bushy eyebrows had turned white from passage of time just like his hair. The green jumpsuit he wore was more nostalgia than anything else. He was so accustomed to wearing it that he never though to get any other clothing. He carried himself well and even now, had a very youthful air about him.

Lee stopped at a mid size monument. The shinobi bowed his head and closed his eyes, memories flooding into his mind. Gai Sensei had been a brother, no, more like his father. He could not remember having any real father nor mother. Gai Sensei had been his parents. He had been hard on Lee, actually knocking him around several times, but that was the way Gai was. Perhaps it wasn't right for the Sensei to treat the youth that way, but that was the past and it gave Lee a good heart. He never treated anyone like that and never raised a hand against anyone, except the enemy.

He stopped at another beautifully carved stone and stared at it. Buried here was the body of the first woman he had ever loved, the one who was precious to him, the one who had given her heart to someone else. He had, and would always have a special pace in his heart for her. The thought of her pink hair made him smile. Her beautiful green eyes captivated him. It was because of her that he had taken on Sasuke, giving him a good beating and in return, Gai Sensei had severely reprimanded him. Still, he had declared his love for her in front of her team mates. He would never forget Sakura. He leaned down and place a blossom on her grave and removed the wilted one.

Next to her, was a monument for the man that she had loved. Sasuke Uchiha. Whether or not his body was actually buried there, Lee did not know. In fact no one alive now knew. What had Sakura seen in that man? What did he have or possess that Lee did not? The old man shook his head. That too would remain a mystery to him. He didn't spend much time here because of the pain, the pain that this man had caused to everyone in the village. Lee moved on.

He gave a smile as he looked at the next stones. Here were his team mates, both of them, side by side. He had always known they were meant for each other. Tenten, vigorous and determined to let them know that she was every bit as good as they were, and she was. Quite, intense, and an excellent shinobi. Next to her was the love of her life, her husband, Neji Hyuga, the one shinobi that Lee had always wanted to beat. Neji had driven Lee to become better and better. His goal was to fight Neji and win. Lee never did win against Neji, but he had won with Neji. The three were a good team and had accomplished much. But now, Neji was gone. Lee chuckled, I have beaten him. I have, I am alive and he is gone. He moved on.

He wandered on, past the markers for Choji Akimichi, Ino Yamanaka, and Shikamaru Nara. He had always wanted to beat Shikamaru at shogi, but he never did. Perhaps when he got home he would get out the board and play a game. He would play being both people. He would make a move for himself then move to the other side of the board and play as if he were the Nara. Perhaps then he could win. He shook his head, no. Even then he would loose because he lost the last game he played for both himself and the Nara.

The next grave to catch his eye was that of Shino. He paused for just a moment, movement, did he see movement on the head stone? He thought he saw bugs on the marker, he could not be sure with his eyesight getting dimmer with his age, but it would make sense. Those bugs were part of Shino, and they would miss him just as one would miss a dear friend.

Akamaru was perhaps the only non-human buried in this place. Buried next to Kiba and his wife. Lee had never had a pet and secretly had been a bit jealous of Kiba and his dog. _Dog._ That was a difficult word to use for Akamaru, he seemed more human that even some humans. Lee continued slowly on.

The next two graves were difficult for him to see. There was fresh earth around both. He looked at the new marker depicting both names, Naruto and Hinata Uzumaki. Hinata had died a week ago and Naruto buried just hours ago. That was the purpose for Lee's being here. When Hinata passed on, Naruto in his desire to be with her, just closed his eyes and followed her.

He got to the gate and looked back at all the markers. He felt tired, he was still here and his friends had all gone on. Not all of his friends were burred here. He had three friends buried elsewhere that he wanted to see. Yes, tomorrow he would head to Suna.

Authors Notes: There you have it. I do hope you enjoyed this story. Please leave me a review and let me know your thoughts. PLEASE Thank you.


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